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North America

This list is work in progress, and will grow and evolve over the coming months and years, so check in again soon for updates. What follows are personal suggestions for some places to get great olive oil in America, and some brands from various parts of the world to watch for.

I also have a separate list of supermarket oils, which provides a range of authentic oils available at major supermarkets, big box stores and wholesalers. Here again, this is by no means a complete list, and I'll be adding more as I try them.

(For more on how this list came about, see here. Some of the companies below have supported aspects of Truth in Olive Oil’s work – details here.)

Notes:

Stars indicate reader assessments, not (necessarily) my own views.

VF – olive oils at these locations are supplied by Veronica Foods, a pioneering importer run by Veronica and Mike Bradley, whose work is described in detail in my book Extra Virginity. These stores sell a range of olive oils in stainless steel fusti, encourage customers to sample before buying, and frequently offer solid information on their oils.

We Olive – a rapidly-growing franchise in California, offering the cream of the crop of California-made olive oils, which encourage customers to taste before they buy, and have knowledgeable sales people to guide their purchases.

Oil & Vinegar – another fast-growing franchise, this one nation-wide, also on the taste before you buy model. The clear glass “amphorae” that Oil & Vinegar uses to store their oil are UV filtered, and the oils I've tasted to date have been quite good.

Williams Sonoma, Dean & Deluca, Sur la Table – these stores offer a small but carefully-curated selections of oils in bottles, mostly from Italy and Spain. As with every chain, the quality of an oil at a given location depends not only on the oils they buy, but how they are displayed, how rapidly inventory turns over, etc.

Click on each store/producer listed below to open its individual page.

Owner Lea Ann Vessels fell in love with olive oil while working several years in Italy, & now sources DOP Italian oils made by families she knows, in Umbria, Campania, Sardinia, Lazio, Puglia and Sicily

Selection of estate oils from old and new world, expertly curated by sisters Saleta and Linda Cameron. Cooking courses, extensive info on oil-makers and oil chemistry, and a genuine obsession with quality and traceability.

Jim Dixon imports a range of top-quality Italian oils, operates an olive oil "CSA" that has a growing and loyal following, appears monthly at the Portland Farmers Market, and imports a mouth-watering range of premium foods. A major resource!

I am now terrified to use the oil in my cupboard. Eagerly anticipating this list, as olive oil is the only kind of oil I'm supposed to eat (anti-cancer diet). Please get it up soon! and thank you so much for your work.

It would be helpful for people to share olive oils they have purchased that they liked. We were in Spain a year ago and brought back an olive oil from a local producer. Their main business was high quality wine but also produced olive oil. It was called Aubocassa. I have no idea if it is imported, but it was delicious and certainly proves that it is not necessary to buy only Italian olive oil, especially if the unethical practices are mostly in Italy.

Bought the book myself and a friend after hearing your piece on NPR....would love to find a nice bottle of olive oil to make it the PERFECT gift! Thanks so much for the time a effort that went into this book.

Please remember to evaluate the Costco olive oils as well. I have been
buying my olive oil from Costco thinking that the supplier won't cheat Costco which is such a great customer for them. I hope I am right.
Thank you so much.

Costco's first store in Australia has good olive oil from EU and Australia. Aldi in Australia does too - Aldi stores in Australia and northern Europe test and taste their oils extensively to ensure the quality. Not sure if they do in the USA yet.
Worth asking your stores if they taste and test their oils. Eventually the retailers will get the message.
It's not hard to test olive oils. The Australian Standard for Olive Oils and Olive Pomace Oils (AS 5264-2011 if you want to Google it) outlines the key tests and these are available from several labs for the retailers' convenience. Modern Olives and the Australian Oils Research Laboratory in Australia offer such services and I believe the UC Davis Olive Center will soon be doing the same. Eurofins in Hamburg does thousands of such tests a year for retailers in northern Europe. Since about 6 years ago Germans have insisted on and get good olive oil in their retail sector.

@ Soroor, Veronica Foods, the huge distributor in California, supplies Costco with a "blended" olive oil. They won't openly admit to it, but as you mentioned, Costco is a huge account for VF. By NO means does that translate to quality, just an agreed upon price.

Veronica Foods Company has never sold a blend or extra virgin olive oil to Costco, ever. Furthermore, Veronica Foods does not sell a blend to any other company who in turn, sells to Costco. It is easy to lie and cast aspersions anonymously. Once again Jayne, you would be well advised to check your facts and more importantly your motives.

Jayne – no idea what you're talking about, but you'd better check your facts before you go public with them. Veronica Foods does not supply Costco with "blended" oils. Tell us where you are getting your information. Are you in the olive oil business yourself?

My undisputed favorite Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the world comes from Cortona, Italy. Bramasole Oil from Villa Bramasole belonging to Ed & Frances Mayes. I buy a case every year and have it shipped to my home. Life would just not be the same without it. TheTuscanSun is their website.

Hi Bobbi, Great to know about Bramasole Oil, which I'll add to my list of "must trys." I don't know the Mayes, but as it happens, I'm friends with the folks who now own the villa where Under a Tuscan Sun was filmed. Nice spread! Love your sentiment re/ great oil that "Life would just not be the same without it." My sentiments exactly!
Tom

Hi Tom,
Just heard you on Forum, and rushed to my kitchen to see what I have. Several callers mentioned Napa Valley Naturals (organic, in my case). I've liked it (should I blush?) and aside from the misleading Napa label, am not sure why it would be bad that some of the olives are raised near Sacramento. My main criterion in choosing olive oil has been the kind of flavor that goes up into my nose and has a little bitterness -- fairly strong-tasting, that is. I use Napa Naturals for general frying etc.; for salads or evening vegetable, where it matters more, I use Farm Bartolini from Italy, which I've liked a lot. Do you know their oil?

At home, I have everything organic, including wine and oil. What kinds of chemicals are used in non-organic olive oils?

Tom,
I also am interested in information on organic EVO. We grow organic heirloom vegetables and herbs for market, and I don't want to use an oil with them, or anything else, that could possibly have chemical residues from pesticides--even if the oil wins praise for its taste.

Are organic olive oils similarly priced to the non-organic? I noticed that one CA company I looked into online is not actually certified organic, which doesn't bother me at all since we aren't either. The costs of certification can be prohibitive to small growers of any type of food product. We like to support sustainable growing practices that do not include use of herbicides, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides. There are also some possible problems with the new organic standards in the US--it depends who the certifying agency is. I guess it is most important to research the growing practices of the olive producers whether or not they have an organic label. We also like to support local food producers, but here in the US snow belt, if we want olive oil, it will have to come from somewhere else, unfortunately.

I, too, heard you on NPR driving home from school. Thanks for your hard work on a great book! Am planning to head up to Ann Arbor this week to get some real Extra VIrgin Olive Oil to try for the first time.

Hello C – As I mentioned just below in an earlier reply, organic labels in olive oil are something I'll be writing more about, but aren't transparent in olive oil. Yes, organic oils cost more, and if properly made may well be free of certain chemicals that non-organic oils can have, but in my experience the distinction between organic and non-organic isn't as useful as between properly made oil and the other stuff. But more on this soon!

Hi Olivia, I just tried Napa Valley Naturals in PCC, a high-end supermarket in Seattle w/ a stress on organics, etc. It said that its oil came from Sacramento and Spain (at least it said so on the label, though "Napa Valley" is a bit misleading,wouldn't you say?). The bad news was that the oil was very defective – strong rancidity and fustiness (from fermented, usually low-grade, olives). I can't say that all NVN products are defective – I only tried this one bottle, and their oil from the bulk container in the "fill your own bottle" of the store – but my experience so far, re/ transparency and quality, is negative re/ Napa Valley Naturals.

I don't know Farm Bartolini – will look into it.

Organic is defined differently in the EU and the US. I'll be writing more on this soon, but for the time being, as detailed in my book Extra Virginity, there are producers in the US who put "USDA Organic" labels on their "extra virgin" olive oil which they blend up from soybean oil, so unfortunately, as long as officials fail to check the contents of olive oil bottles, an organic seal is no guarantee of quality.

Your book was a xmas gift from my husband and we are thoroughly enjoying it. Living in Idaho we don't have a lot of local options but we would like to share the name of a french olive oil we buy at the wine shop in the Boise Food Coop - 'Mas de Gourgonnier' Huile d'Olive Vierge Extra, First Cold Press. We also like one of the olive oil selections from Trader Joe's (Trader Joe's Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil).

Hi Kate, I'll add Mas de Gourgonnier to my list of oils to look into. Could you tell me what else is written on the label? The French produce a very small amount of olive oil – vastly less than they did a century ago – and in my experience, French oils that reach N. America are higher quality than Spanish or Italian, but I'll check out Mas de Gourgonnier. As for Trader Joe's, my very limited experience has been poor – 2 oils in 2 different stores that weren't extra virgin as they claimed. But this was a couple years ago, and I can't generalize,esp in the case of a store like Trader Joe's where individual store owners make many buying decisions. But I'll put Trader Joe's on my list of oils to explore, too!

Hi Jane – I want to underscore my caveat about my list: it's work in progress, ever-expanding, and based exclusively on my own experience and that of a small circle of trusted oil advisors around the world. The fact that Antica Masseria Caroli, or any other oil, didnt appear on my list is not necessarily any indication that it isn't excellent – I know only a fraction of the great oils out there. I'll ask them for a sample, though, and get back to you.

Hi Barton,
I'm thinking you're meaning Whole Foods. So far my experience has been mixed. They sell a number of good oils, but the 365 oils I've tried, oddly, have been terrible – not extra virgin at all. They also failed the recent UC Davis study (link to follow). For a store that prides itself on quality, this is bizarre.

Hi Meg,
I'm thinking you're meaning Whole Foods. So far my experience has been mixed. They sell a number of good oils, but the 365 oils I've tried, oddly, have been terrible – not extra virgin at all. They also failed the recent UC Davis study (link to follow). For a store that prides itself on quality, this is bizarre.

I too was wondering about Olave. $20/liter. I just bought a bottle because the expiration date was 11/2014. Being from Chile, I thought it would be fresher this time of year. Bottle states Varieties as Frantoio, Luccino, Coratina and Arbequina. Have not opened it yet.

In Massachusetts, the Kirkland Signature is double labeled Fillipo Berio Organic Extra Virgin. Is this the Kirkland Signature that you're recommending?

When I first started reading your book, I bought Lucini which is also widely available in local Supermarkets varying in price from $15 to $22 for a 500 ml. bottle. Stated acidity is 0.2 to 0.4%. I enjoyed it although it is bottled in a light bottle so probably does not fare well stored on supermarket shelves.

Wegman's Supermarket is widely distributed across the Northeast US. They have a store brand line called Wegman's Italian classics which is relatively affordable. $10 for 500 ml. I chose the Campagnan which is D.O.P. Colline Salernitane. Says it is from Amalfi Coast. I'd like to try the Tuscan oil next. You should get them to mail you some to taste.

I am a novice to all this, so it would be helpful to be able to get my hands on something you've recommended so I can compare. I want to maximize the health benefits and would love to be able to taste the difference between true extra virgins and refined oils.

That being said, I have done a few side by side comparisons. I haven't been able to bring myself to drink the oil straight so I test it with bread dipped in olive oil. I like the light mouth feel of both the Wegman's Campagnan and the Lucini. Last night, I compared the Filipo Berrio Organic Extra Virgin to the Lucini and actually liked the "bite" of the Filipo Berrio. Maybe the Lucini is too mild to be an example of Tuscan oil. I did like the "mouth feel" of the Lucini better. Today, I compared some Carapelli Extra Virgin to the Lucini. The tastes were night and day. The Carapelli was blah, bland and greasy. That contrast gives me more confidence that maybe these other olive oils are pretty good even though they are not on your list.

Leslie,
Given its pricing, I'm not sure the Lucini is actually a Tuscan oil, though it is certainly bottled there. It's likely an Italian blend including Puglian and maybe Sicilian oils, given the size of those regions' production. The Costco Kirkland IGP Toscano extra virgin, at $10/ltr, is an excellent everyday oil, and certainly a Tuscan blend, given the certification. It's also harvest dated, and when they run out, it's gone until the next harvest. It's a balanced taste, with a little bite, but mostly midweight fruity. How much is the Wegman's Salernitana? It's an area whose controlled oils are not readily seen in NYCity. Thanks!

Olive oil is becoming an art as wine, is not just important the virginity (acidity grade), as the varieties. In Spain, is becoming popular buy directly single-variety oil, there are more than two hundred varieties cultivated in Spain but most popular are "Picual", "Arbequina", "Hojiblanca", every one contribute with its special characterisctic to your taste and your specific meal. I am deboted to Picual which it is very strong for salads and Hojiblanca for last finishing touch to the pasta.

I am very surprise to see so many comments about Italian olive oil brands, but they mainly sells spanish olive oil. I recommend you to search for the real productor-sellers.

I agree completely, Carlos - olive oil is going the way of wine (and the sooner the better!), w/ awareness growing of the different olive cultivars and the vastly different oils they make. People need to seek out producers and start recognizing the kinds of cultivars they like best, as they have w/ grape varieties in wine, coffee beans, chocolate, etc.

I am so pleased to see so many interesting comments and requests about obtaining excellent quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). My wife and I have a house on Crete surrounded by olive trees and we produce our own EVOO every year in December/January; the first oil produced is always interesting and dynamic and contains the highest level of antioxydants and beneficial polyphenols. We sell what we don't give away under the banner of iLoveOil.co.uk if anyone is interested. I also work with the mill that makes our oil - Terra Creta and they produce beautiful EVOO from a single Koroneiki variety; recommended!

Koroneiki is one of my very favorite cultivars, esp. a big boistrous early harvest oil. And the section on Crete was one of my favorite parts of my book to research and write. I'd love to have a sample of your Terra Creta oil, if you're willing, for consideration on my list.

Hi Tom. great to hear your Fresh Air interview on NPR prior to the holidays.
As you update yout VF supplied tasting rooms, please refer to us under our full (and tradmarked) brand name: Gustare Oils & Vinegars since we are 'dedicated' tasting room rather than some our our New englans competitiors whom core business is not limited to a unique and memorable O&V guest experience. All the best with your book sales in 2012.
Dave & Catherine 'Gustare'

Hi – Sorry I can't say comment on olive oil quality in Vietnam, nor on Vietnamese customs and how they might affect your importing good oils mail order. Can you give me some brand names available in Vietnam?

Thank you so much for enlightening us. Here in Toronto we started buying EVOO from taze.ca They're selling turkish aegean EVOOs only. Highly delicious, but EXTREMLY expensive, unfortunately. We would be grateful if you can evaluate it for us sometime. They've in the US taze.com

I've looked into Ta-Ze and though their stores are beautiful, I don't think there is quality EVOO here. They pre-pack everything in clear glass (ack!!) which allows in sunlight, fluorescent light, etc. Also, they listed an EVOO on there website as having 1% acidity, which as we all know...cannot be called Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I'm a little skeptical.

So glad to see Raimondo's Winery in Gamaliel, Arkansas listed! We went to a fabulous wine/oil/vinegar tasting there and came home with some wonderful products! I am glad to know I am getting quality oil. Thanks, Tom!

This may be lack of information on my part, rather than a real lack. That said, I'm just back from Seattle, one of N. America's food capitals, where I was amazed by the lack of availability of fine olive oil. It was available at De Laurenti's and Chef Shop dot Com, at eye-popping prices, but otherwise very hard to come by....